1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to storage system configuration and more particularly relates to enabling a system administrator to perform uninterrupted configuration of a storage system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A common data storage system is depicted in FIG. 1. The common data storage system may include a logical hierarchy of physical components. For example, a typical storage system may include one or more hard disks 106 for storing data. The hard disks 106 may be organized into one or more arrays 104. Often such arrays 104 are mirrored for data backup and redundancy on a second array 104. A typical array 104 includes one or more hard disks 106. Most common arrays 104 include several hard disks 106. The next logical level of the storage hierarchy is a rank 102. The rank 102 typically includes one or more arrays 104 of hard disks 106.
In a common storage system, the ranks 102, arrays 104 and hard disks 106 are arranged into a logical hierarchy using configuration information. The configuration information is typically stored across the hard disks 106. A storage manager may generate the configuration information and store it on the hard disks 106. The configuration information defines the logical relationship between the physical devices. The storage manager may, for example, create an array 104 of multiple hard disks 106. The configuration information defining the relationship is then stored on the hard disks 106.
However, configuration of complex logical structures in a large storage system may be difficult and time consuming. This is especially the case when a logical relationship already exists and must be modified. For example, if the storage manager needs to delete a rank 102 to define a new logical relationship between the hard disks 106 arranged within the rank 102, each of the disks will need to be reformatted to delete the current configuration information. In a typical system, which includes several hard disks 106, reformatting may take several hours. In common systems, the reformatting process must be completed before the rest of the configuration job can be completed.
One problem with the common storage system is that the system administrator typically needs to check back on the system repeatedly to see if the disks have finished reformatting before he can proceed with reconfiguration of the hard disks 106. Since a typical system administrator may be responsible for several storage systems, much of his time may be wasted on checking the systems to see if they are available for configuration. Since most system administrators are concerned about the availability of their storage systems to system users, many administrators will perform configuration jobs at night or on weekends. Thus, an entire night may be wasted on checking to see if hard disks 106 have been reformatted before continuing with the configuration job.
Once the disks have been formatted, the storage manager typically retrieves the physical parameters of each of the hard disks 106 before continuing with configuration. The physical parameters may include the storage capacity, the disk rotation speed, driver or firmware information, and the like. The storage manager typically requires the physical parameters of the hard disks 106 for optimization of the logical configuration, and to generate new configuration information based on these parameters. The newly generated configuration data is typically stored on the hard disks 106. However, the storing typically may not be performed until the hard disks 106 have been completely reformatted. Thus the storage manager is typically not able to continue with configuration of the logical hierarchy until the hard disks 106 have been reformatted. The storage manager may then generate and store the new configuration information on the hard disks 106.